Versatile: Alternate World



I never saw Pandora that fierce before. Perhaps the words and actions of the villagers caused Pandora to become irritable. But I don't have much idea how Pandora acts. She has some cute moments and somewhere she acts like a lady and sometimes, like a warrior, but that stuff earlier she did is something I didn't expect her to do. It was like she just started cursing the villagers.

I turned back to look at the village that we left and thankfully, it seems the villagers are not even following us. But the way they betrayed us almost sparked another fuse in me. If not for the surprising actions of Pandora earlier, I might have committed something much more brutal than expected.

Anyways, Pandora is escorting the beast woman with us. Although she was not speaking, the beast woman is clearly sad at the events that happened. Even I would also be sad if the people whom you have trusted and become friends with would suddenly turn their backs on you, throw insults at you and dub you as some kind of menace.

"You will be staying with us for now, okay? Staying with those people who do not even know how to repay kindness are people that shouldn't even be bothered to be saved. We will let you stay with us for a while."

The beast woman didn't say anything but she seems to agree with Pandora's words. As for me, I am not against her staying with us, but what was her story? And why is a beast woman living here? If she was a mercenary then that would have been a different story as I would understand her enough, but she is not and she seemed to be living alone in that village without any companions as well. Just what the heck is she doing in the middle of nowhere?

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Once we returned to the mansion, Pandora immediately told Almira to move while Pandora started to council talk the beast woman. Seeing that it was a girl talking at the moment, I left them to talk. As for Lucia, she was puzzled a bit after our return and when she saw the beast woman with us with a glum face, she immediately knew something was wrong. She didn't come with us as she wanted to remain in the mansion and remain on guard.

"Master? Did something happen? Why did the beast woman return? I thought she would be back to the village?"

"It was a long story. Let me explain what happened."

Then, I started retelling Lucia on what happened. I didn't hide any sort of details from Lucia and even included the insult they gave us, especially the part where we are accused of colluding with the demons and who told them of that.

After hearing everything, Lucia is a bit sad. Although she is also furious, she is sad.

"I didn't expect that to happen. Looks like staying here was the best decision I have done. Who would have thought that those girls we saved have the nerve to even badmouth the people who saved them? It seems they do indeed have deserved to be attacked. But still, this is the first time I have ever encountered this type of treatment."

Almira appeared behind us after she climb up from the basement. It seems she heard what Lucia said. "That's how it is, Lucia. Humans are fickle creatures and they are more evil than the devils and demons themselves. They won't even hesitate to ruin someone's life as long as they think they were in the right. And their behavior is something similar to following the leader. They follow the ones who incited everything. You can say they have a hive mind and one suggestion that will provoke their minds will just make them receive more flame in the process."

"Almira-san..."

"Humans are also quite capable of discriminating and can be quite brutal compared to other species. Elves are capable of showing this in front of everyone but they are clearly capable of changing especially with our elf friends here. But humans? They can deceive you with lies and hearing how the girls you all saved have decided to label us all as colluders of the demons, it is clear that they bear hatred to you the moment you appeared in from of them. Don't be too surprised."

Almira's words are true. Based on Almira's words, I can feel this was from the experience she was talking about. However, I didn't bother to say much. It's best I will keep the thoughts on my own.

"Anyways, I suggest we do less charity work. I am not suggesting we fully stop it, but we first judge the situation before helping first. Because if I have known those girls would be like that, I wouldn't hesitate to push them off the land, while the mansion is walking. I don't care if they have died or have been injured."

While Almira was talking, Pandora and the beast woman appeared before us. Pandora looked at me and at Almira before she looked at the beast woman and nodded.

"Manato, you already heard me before but I want Zena to remain here for a while until she is ready to leave. I know this is what you call charity work, Almira-san but I know that Zena is a good person. She might be different from us but she does not mean any harm and the situation that happened in the village was just a coincidence. She won't be just freeloading either. She knows how to fight and also does some work as well. She will not be a burden."

"I didn't know you would be so attached to her immediately," I told Pandora.

"Well...I can sympathize with her. I can say that I feel her pain and when hearing all of the words the villagers said before, I feel sad for her situation."

At that moment, the beast woman named Zena, prostrate herself on the floor which shocked us.

"Please, just this once. I needed a place to stay. I know you all are suspicious of me but I will ensure that I am a trustworthy beast woman. Don't worry, I will leave once I have achieved what I needed to do for myself. I am not going to be lazy and will accept any orders, work, and anything hard labor for you all if that means staying here. So please, grant me permission. I swear on my life I will be useful!"

Because it is getting awkward, I helped her stand up.

"Alright fine. Stop prostrating there. We are not that kind of extreme for you to do that. Since Pandora can vouch for you, we will accept you to stay here. Although it's not necessary for you to do anything around here, if you really wanted to help then you are free to do so. However, I have a question. Why are you here in the human territory? Shouldn't you be with your family and tribe?"

Zena looked away from me and sighed, "...I apologize but I still can't tell you all what it was. I am still not comfortable with it."

Almira looked at her and nodded for a bit, before puffing out one smoke in her mouth. "Fine. But if you do want to gain more power, then train up. Don't wait for things to go your way."

Almira then turned to look at me and pat me on my shoulder. "She would be fine. Don't worry too much about her. She is not a danger to us. And if you are still not convinced, I can vouch for her. How about that?"

I scratch my head and look at Almira with a "Care for an explanation" look but she just gave me a "Later" look. I sighed but since two people already vouched for her, I don't need to deny her here.

"Fine. Welcome to the mansion."

And so, we started to introduce ourselves. As for her, she is Zena and she is traveling to fulfill her goal for the future. She stayed in that village for 3 days until the attack happened because she still hasn't found a good place to stay in. Although the village accepted her, she can feel the situation is not good for her and the people there seem to despise her secretly though she still doesn't know whether they truly do or not.

She helped defend the village from demons but she was hurt when it turned out that the villagers hated her since she arrived. She don't know what she will do until Pandora came to her rescue. And since she was kicked out, she is now going to remain here for the time being until her goal is achieved. I don't know what was her goal but if she needed it to the point of hiding what it was, perhaps it was really important. But right now, I guess she needed time to open up a bit more for us.